


Thank You, Ten

by absbartlet



Category: Carol (2015), The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Inspired by true events, events that include me being a theatre nerd, lesbians creating theatre magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-14
Updated: 2016-04-17
Packaged: 2018-05-26 15:30:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6245299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/absbartlet/pseuds/absbartlet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Therese Belivet, assistant stage manager for her school's spring play, discovers the ten minute breaks during rehearsals make the best moments for bonding with Carol Aird, a local actor usually typecast as the woman uninterested in searching for love, a trait that has rubbed off into her personal life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Audition

“Therese, go bring in six more,” Abby told Therese, her attention still directed to her notebook, where she had been scribbling thoughts during each audition. She kept her left hand on her scarf near her throat as she spoke. “And there’s the callback list, will you ask them to come back tomorrow, please, so they can get out of here for the night?”

 

“Just the ones on this list?” Therese responded. She held the paper with a tight grip. With the stage manager unable to make it to this first night of auditions, she had even more on her plate. Now wasn’t the time to mess around and make a mistake.

 

“Just the ones on the list.”

 

Therese nodded and walked into the stage right wing, took a turn to her left, then crossed the hallway to a small green room where about 30 actors were waiting. She called out a handful of names, each sticking to her tongue with a stutter. “Sorry,” she said quietly and blushed, then inhaled a breath of stuffy air. “Please come back tomorrow evening at 7.” After a moment of allowing her embarassment to subside, she continued to her next task, calling off a list of six names. “Follow me, please.” With a subtle smile, she led them to the wings to wait.

 

Carol followed behind and tapped Therese’s shoulder. “Would it be possible to go with this batch? I need to be home by 10.”

 

“Oh,” Therese said and turned her gaze from the list in her hand to Carol. “Um...”

 

Another girl stepped out of the line and let Carol take her place. “Go ahead. If it’s okay with Therese.”

 

“That's fine.” Therese nodded. “I have no specific order... I just chose the names easiest to pronounce to call...”

 

Carol chuckled and gave her a pat on the back of her shoulder. “Thank you, dear,” she whispered to the girl that traded her spot with her.

 

Therese took their headshots and audition sheets to Abby in the auditorium and sat in the row behind her to watch. The audition was simple, according to Abby: prepare a Shakespeare sonnet. If you don't suck, you’ll be given a monologue to read cold. If you still don't suck, you get to return the next night for a callback.

 

Since the local semi-professional theatre had lost it’s home in a fire, and the theatre program at the college Therese attended (and Abby taught) was forced to downsize due to lack of interest, the two companies came up with a compromise. The outside theatre would stage their productions at the school’s auditorium, and the school’s program would receive support from the semi-professional theatre. This included integrating some of the actors into the school shows; it was thought of as adding mentors. With only 15 students in performance-based majors, and 2 productions-- a mainstage, and a second stage, which was directed by students-- going on each semester, it was a headache to put on large pieces of theatre without casting outside actors in 2 or 3 of the mainstage roles. With this semester's mainstage being Romeo and Juliet, she was relieved to see 4 or 5 of the experienced actors show up to audition, all the younger actors could get the expertise they craved for tackling Shakespeare.

 

Abby glanced over to see Therese staring at the lace cuffs of her top. “Therese. Therese?” 

 

“Hmm?” She replied, snapping out of her gaze. Abby sighed and began to rifle through the unorganized pile of audition sheets on Therese’s lap. “Oh... I'll have these more organized tomorrow night. I'm sorry, I didn't know what to do with so many things in my hand.”

 

Abby shrugged and sat back in her seat against the plush blue fabric to watch the next audition, biting the back of her pen. Therese looked at the stage when she heard Carol first speak. “I'm Carol Aird, auditioning for the role of Lady Capulet. I'll be reading Sonnet 77.”

 

“Whenever you're ready!” Abby called to the stage and smirked. She loved how much it drove Carol crazy that she requested a sonnet instead of a monologue for the first portion of the audition. It was her only option at this point; many non-theatre students were auditioning for extra credit in various classes, and there was pressure from administration to include as wide a range of students in the theatre department as much as possible.

 

Carol chose a spot in the audience to direct her focus, inhaled, and took her time moving through the words. To Therese, it was as if each one told it's own story. She'd never heard anything like it. Then again, she'd only seen one production of Shakespeare in her life all the way through, and it was a middle school production of Hamlet.

 

_ “Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear, _ __   
_ Thy dial how thy precious minutes waste; _ __   
_ The vacant leaves thy mind’s impr'nt will bear, _ __   
_ And of this book this learning mayst thou taste: _ __   
_ The wrinkles which thy glass will truly show _ __   
_ Of mouthèd graves will give thee memory; _ __   
_ Thou by thy dial’s shady stealth mayst know _ __   
_ Time’s thievish progress to eternity. _ __   
_ Look what thy memory cannot contain, _ __   
_ Commit to these waste blanks, and thou shalt find _ __   
_ Those children nursed, delivered from thy brain, _ __   
_ To take a new acquaintance of thy mind. _ __   
_ These offices, so oft as thou wilt look, _ _   
_ __ Shall profit thee and much enrich thy book.”

 

Abby smiled at the audition and jotted down a few thoughts in her notebook. “How are you tonight, Carol?”

 

“I'm well, thank you. Is this your stage manager?” She asked, her glance now directed to Therese.

 

Therese felt her cheeks become suddenly hot as she sunk into her chair. She dug front teeth into her bottom lip.  _ Don’t look at me. Not me. Oh no _ .

 

“This is Therese, she’s my assistant stage manager. She's a costume design student paying her dues in this production,” Abby called back to Carol. She then rifled through some pages of monologues that sat on the armrest beside her and handed a page to Therese to take to Carol.

 

Therese took the passing of the page as her cue to sprint up to the stage. “Here you are,” she whispered to the blonde woman, hoping her face wasn’t as red as it felt.

 

The way Carol stared at her caused her to hold her breath. She feared that if she exhaled, the moment would be gone, and she'd never feel this same way again. The trance was broken moments later by Carol’s voice. “Thank you, Therese,” she whispered and took the page, giving it a quick glance. “Mercutio, Abby?”

 

“Yes, it's just a reading. Please, go all out.”

 

“Don't I always?” Carol replied. Therese smiled at the conversation between the women. She hurried back to the 9th row to watch Carol read.

 

Carol did as she was asked, using grand hand gestures, her proud, resonant voice, and the depth of the stage to her full advantage. Abby sat in amusement giving her an obnoxious loud clap when she finished. “See you tomorrow night!”

 

Carol blew her a kiss and laughed. “You will. Good to see you, Abby.”

  
Abby gave Therese a nudge and a copy of a scene to pass on to Carol to rehearse door the following night's callback. “She was great,” Therese whispered to Abby, then hurried towards the smell of Carol's perfume, and the clicks of her red, confidence-boosting heels as they disappeared past the black, lauan-surfaced stage.


	2. The Reading

Therese walked out of her Introduction to Literature class and hung her plaid messenger bag on her shoulder. She took a sip of her coffee, then took out her phone, not surprised to see there were 13 texts from Abby. When Therese agreed to help with the show, she also signed an invisible contract that gave Abby permission to bounce ideas off of her whenever necessary. It was always necessary, as proven by the 13 messages. If anything, Therese appreciated the fact Abby trusted her so much, despite only knowing her for a few months.

  


Therese pressed the call button beside Abby's name and waited for the warm, somewhat familiar voice to answer.

  


“Therese, hey, thanks for calling me back. Do you have a minute?”

  


“I just got out of class.”

  


“Will you come up to my office?” Abby asked. “It’s down the hall of the theatre lobby, second door on the left.”

  


“Sure, I'll be right there.” She said before hanging up. Therese hurried up the steps to the theatre and down the hall, only to find that she’d beat Abby there. Her laugh rang at the end of the hall, followed by Carol's voice.

  


“Therese, you got here fast!” She called from down the hall. “Thank you.”

  


“Nice to see someone is on top of things around here.” Carol said with a smirk and walked with Abby into the office. “Abby is never on top. Not of anyone.”

  


“-any _ thing _ , I know,” Abby rolled her eyes and stashed her pack of cigarettes into a drawer of the desk with her lighter.

  


Therese tucked her non-coffee-bearing hand into the pocket of her cardigan and glanced around Abby’s office from where she stood in the doorway. The amount of plays stacked on the shelves against one wall was overwhelming. “Have you read all of these?”

  


“Most of them, yes. You can take a look at them, come on in.”

  


_ Don’t make a fool of yourself. Don't make a fool of yourself,  _ she thought, then walked into the office. The walls that were shelf-less were covered in posters and art work; there were beige pillows on the couch, and two comfortable-looking chairs. Carol sat in one of them, her sweater hung over the back, and her legs hanging over one arm. It seemed Carol was more comfortable in Abby’s office chair than most people were in their own beds.

  


“Are you ready for the table read tonight?” Abby asked, bringing her eyes up to meet Therese’s.

  


Therese tried not to blush when Abby’s determined eyes met with her own. “Yes.. I think so. Do I need to bring anything?”

  


“Just the contact list so it can be updated if it needs to be. Our stage manager will be here Monday night, so you'll have to carry a few more tasks until then.”

  


“That's fine. I'm looking forward to meeting them. May I ask why you texted me so much this afternoon? I called before I could read them all.”

  


“Sit down and I’ll fill you in.”

  


Therese sat in the chair beside Carol’s, blushing when she felt the blue eyes staring at her. 

  


“Therese, are you a freshman here?”

  


“I'm a sophomore...”

  


“Ah. I met all of the costume design students last year. I would've remembered meeting Miss Therese Belivet.”

  


Therese’s dimples deepened as she smiled at the compliment. “I transferred here... from a different school.”

  


“Why is that?”

  


“I... Just... This was a better program... I admired the way Abby runs the theatre department.”

  


“You hear that?” Carol smirked and turned to Abby, her elbow resting on the chair and her hand beneath her chin. “She admires your work.”

  


“Oh, Carol, I think-”

  


“ _ Oh, Carol.  _ Don't deny it. She admires you.”

  


“I do... I appreciate anyone who has such a good understanding of... Of..”

  


“Of art?” Carol interrupted.

  


Therese nodded and flashed Carol a smile as a thank you for finishing her sentence.

  


“Thank you, Therese. I appreciate the admiration. Now. Onto inportant matters. Carol is working on another project right now. A one act play she wrote is being produced at a community theatre nearby. They're in need of costumes. Would you be interested in being a costumer?”

  


Therese’s face lit up. “Oh, yes! I would love to. Are you sure?”

  


“I'm sure. I'll let her give you the details. The two of you can work it out together.”

  


“Just give me your number,” Carol added. 

  


“My number?”

  


“Your phone number?”

  


“Oh, yes. Right.” Therese pulled a pink post-it note stack out of her bag that she always had on her for annotating books. She wrote her number down and passed it to Carol. “There.”

  


“Thank you, Therese.”

  


Abby stood up, and Therese took that as her cue to leave. “I'll see you at the reading tonight, Abby... Thank you.”

  


“See you tonight.” Carol waved. Therese practically ran back to her dorm when she left the theatre. She collapsed into her bed, trying to hide the smile on her face.  _ Abby believes in me,  _ she thought.

  


~

  


Shortly after 6:30pm, Therese arrived at the theatre with a contact list for the cast members, placing it on the table near the sign in with a post it note that read:  _ please verify your contact information.  _ She made sure to leave a column on the page labeled “corrections, if needed”. 

  


Abby left her office and met Therese in the lobby. “Ready to go down? We just need to finish setting up a few tables.”

  


“Sounds good,” Therese replied and followed Abby through the auditorium doors and down the steps to the pit, then up onto the stage. “Let’s move these two tables together.”

  


Therese helped Abby move the tables and rearrange the chairs together. “Is Carol still here?”

  


“She's taking a nap in my office.”

  


“Oh... You must be good friends... If she naps in your office.”

  


“Yes. We've been friends for years. We met in a production of The Odd Couple.”

  


“And you were... the couple?”

  


“We were. We were _a_ _couple_ , actually... I shouldn't tell you too much, this is personal. But I will tell you we were together for a while.”

  


“Oh, of course. I understand.” She nodded, looking up to the door of the auditorium as a few actors walked in. She stepped back so she was out of the way and listened to Abby’s booming voice and laughter while she greeted her friends.

  


“This is Therese! Our ASM.”

  


Therese blushed each time Abby introduced her to someone. Her cheeks were still hot and red when Carol finally walked through the auditorium at 6:59 sharp. “There she is!” Abby called and clapped her hands.

  


“Abby, you're too embarrassing.” She laughed when she reached the brunette on stage. Abby smoothed what remained of Carol's bedhead and led her to the table to start the reading. Carol took the seat between Abby and Therese, and Therese passed a copy of the script out to everyone. 

  


Abby stood up and smiled at everyone sitting at the table. “Shall we begin?” She asked, an announcement in her full, rich, ‘actor voice’, as Therese called it. “What I’m looking for today is nothing but a read through of the script. I want to see where we end up with it. Feel free to do whatever it is you have in mind in terms of character for yourself, but don't make it your focus tonight. There will be plenty of time for that later on. Any questions?”

  


Therese stared at Abby as she spoke. She was so smart. How did one become so smart?  _ Does Abby knew how god damn smart she sounds?  _ Therese wondered. She caught herself wondering a plethora of other things until the reading began, and she turned her focus back to the actors around her.

  


Although Therese had read the play several times since high school, she was still fascinated by the way (almost) every actor at the table brought the whole to life as they read, especially Carol. It was clear Carol wasn't holding back with her vision of her role, Mercutio. Therese was genuinely surprised that Abby made the choice to cast someone so  _ mature _ in the role. Though, Abby always seemed to make odd choices for reasons perhaps only she understood, at least until the reasons came to life onstage.

  


Therese watched Carol's lips as she carefully worked through her favorite monologue:

_ Her chariot is an empty hazelnut, _ __  
_ Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub, _ __  
_ Time out o' mind the fairies' coachmakers. _ __  
_ And in this state she gallops night by night _ _  
_ __ Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love.

  


Without much surprise, Therese found Carol to be her favorite actor in the cast.  She couldn't help but be jealous. Carol had everything: beauty, intelligence, grace, a sense of humor, and the one thing Therese had been thinking about non-stop: Abby.

  


~

  


As the last few actors dispersed for the evening, Therese left the theatre, catching a glimpse of Carol and Abby, their hands intertwined, smiles on their lips, gentle laughter on the waves of their voices. “I know I can't get you to come home with me... But perhaps we can meet to gossip and have a cigarette tomorrow afternoon?” Abby whispered.

  


Carol nodded as she let go of Abby’s hand. “Goodnight, Abby.” 

  


Therese turned and quickly went on her way when Carol turned back around, but it only took a few moments for them to be walking side by side. “Where is your dorm? I'll walk you back.”

  


“Oh... Thank you... It's just across there.” She pointed across a garden and pond to the brick building she lived it. “I actually have to stop by the bookstore before I go home-”

  


“You’re just like Abby, you never sleep.”

  


“No, I don't.” Therese confirmed, smiling as she considered how Carol had compared her to Abby.

  


“You need sleep, or you'll end up old and cranky like me by the time you're thirty.”

  


Therese giggled and started to walk down the sidewalk, turning back around to wave to Carol after a few steps. “Goodnight.”

  
“Goodnight, Therese.”


	3. The Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the time it took me to update this. I'm producing a series of staged readings of plays at my school so I've been busy as heck with theatre! Luckily, I did get some inspiration for this short and sweet chapter. Relationships like this one between Therese and Abby mean a lot to me, so open, honest moments similar to the conversation in this chapter are important. I know from experience that they can really impact a person. (Plus it's even more interesting when one person has a not-so-teeny crush on the other. Oops.) I know this chapter isn't long, but this conversation will come back later, and is a step in Therese's personal growth. So, without further ado, chapter three!

Therese met Abby in her office early Friday morning with the contact sheet and notes from the reading the prior night. “Here you are.”

“Thank you, dear. Sit down,” Abby said, taking the papers in her right hand. With her left, she filled her thermos with freshly made coffee.

Therese put her bag down beside the leg of one of the comfortable chairs and sat down. As she turned her attention to Abby, she put her hands on her lap.

“I got a call from Paige- have you met Paige?”

The professor of directing; Therese remembered shaking her hand and introducing herself when she’d toured the school. “Yes, I have.”

“She found out we have enough in the budget for a second production. We’re going to have students put it on. They’ll be directing, costuming, producing. And Paige and I will oversee it.”

“That's great!”

“And for our students needing that opportunity, it would take priority over this show. So... That means losing most of our guys and our nurse.”

“We have time to recast... What we'd have left is great, right?”

“I've done some thinking... Now, Carol is a great Lady Capulet-”

“She is.” Therese agreed, watching Abby's facial expressions change as she did some more of her overthinking. 

Abby’s eyes moved from the cast list, back to Therese, to the phone, to her coffee, then to Therese again. “Think about Carol, imagine her as Lady Capulet.”

Therese did as she was asked. The image of Carol on the stage projected in her mind, and she smiled. “Okay.”

“Now, imagine her as Mercutio.”

Therese opened her mouth to speak, then shut it again. 

“Well?” 

“I’ll be honest... Isn't she... Of the wrong age for the part?”

“You mean, is she too old?”

“I don't mean th-”

“I’m messing with you.” Abby smirked and sipped her coffee. “Romeo and Mercutio... I have a woman in mind for Romeo.”

“A woman as Romeo?”

“She’s about 5 or 6 years younger than Carol. A student.”

“That sounds great.” Therese got out her show notebook to write down Abby's ideas for her. After only a week of working with her, she knew she'd be forgetting her own ideas within a few hours.

“Then we’re going to do this. Start making calls with me.”

Therese stayed with Abby in her office for the remainder of the morning. Unlike she had when she first arrived at the school, she felt comfortable, especially around Abby. “Is it obvious that I don't know much about acting?” She asked to break up some silence in their process of note-taking and brainstorming.

“No. And no one here cares where you are in your education as long as you work hard.”

“I've never understood how people do it.”

“How they act?”

“Yes... Isn't it hard? Isn't it hard enough to be on stage in front of people? When you’re thinking of a hundred other things... like when to turn, when to... walk- it must be even harder.”

Abby took a sip of coffee as Therese spoke, then smirked. “The hardest part is getting out of your head. Being in the moment. I’m always telling actors to get out of their heads. Once you can do that, it is an entirely new realm of fun.”

"You're very smart.”

“Thank you, Therese. As are you. Smart enough to work with me on this show, instead of abandoning it like half of the other theatre students.”

Therese laughed, trying to keep it as quiet as she could. “I'm grateful you're letting me work with you... I need this experience.”

“Enjoy it. The 2 month experience won't happen in 2 weeks.”

“...good point. I didn't think of it like that.”

Abby smiled and stood up. “I have another meeting to get to. Time to complain about my cast being stolen... Thanks for stopping by. I'll see you tonight.”

“ 5:30, right?” Therese asked. She stuffed her things back into her messenger bag and stood got up, almost dropping her thermos of coffee.

“That's right.” She nodded and put on her jacket. Therese stared at her for a few seconds until the silence became awkward. She was struggling to look away from the way Abby's lips and eyes condensed ever so slightly when she concentrated. 

“Right!” She finally said and stood up. As she made her way out of the office, Abby called after her.

“Therese, we need to get you out of your head!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe this fic has almost 100 kudos! Thank you so very much, friends!

**Author's Note:**

> Since this fic will have quite a bit of reference to theatre stuff, feel free to message my tumblr (sondsheim) if you have any questions about what anything means! I'll do my best to keep it as simple as possible.
> 
> I'm still trying to figure out how this site works- I'd like to put a few links to some Romeo and Juliet stuff to give anyone who's interested/never studied the play some information, but unfortunately, I simply don't know how, but I'll try to figure it out by next time!
> 
> Update: thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to leave kudos and comments, it's so encouraging! I'm going to do my best to update this fic at some point every weekend.


End file.
